KINGSTON, Jamaica – A Chicago lawyer reportedly tried to extort US$250,000 from Whitney Houston in 1992, on the eve of the premiere of “The Bodyguard” movie, the New York Post has reported.

According to the article, the extortion attempt happened when it was rumoured Houston had a lesbian affair with her personal assistant and long-time friend.

It was said to be revealed in “Whitney & Bobbi Kristina: The Deadly Price of Fame” by Ian Halperin.

The book emerges just six months after an alleged drug overdose left Bobbi Kristina, 22, in a coma from which doctors have said she is unlikely to ever regain consciousness.

The Post reported that the lawyer told an FBI agent that the information included “knowledge of intimate details regarding Whitney Houston’s romantic relationships and will go public with the information.”

The report claims that Whitney’s father, John Houston, “settled the matter by sending a confidentiality agreement almost immediately,” although it was “unclear how much money was paid to silence the person and whether he met the initial demand for $250,000.”

That same year, Whitney married singer Bobby Brown. Halperin wrote in is book that on the wedding day, the bride gave the long-time friend a black Porsche “as a token of their friendship.” 

The writer quotes Kevin Ammons, a former bodyguard of the deceased singer, saying that John Houston was extremely unhappy with the friend and worried that she would go public with the relationship, the NY Post said.

Ammons said John told him,  “She’s ruining my family and driving everybody nuts. She’s lost her grip on reality. I’ll pay you $6,000 if you put the fear of God in her.”

Ammons allegedly told Halperin he refused the request and that John then “warned the bodyguards to ‘keep an eye’ on [the friend].”

Meanwhile the UK’s Daily Mail noted the Halperin claims that Bobbi Kristina was a drug addict by the time she was 14 years old.

He states that Bobbi Kristina was just 12 years old when she first accompanied her mother to rehab in Antigua in 2005.

The Daily Mail said that a relative told the author that even before she was 15, Bobbi Kristina had already been committed to a psychiatric hospital for observation after trying to stab her mother before slashing at her own wrists.